ABC News anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis faced criticism from former President Donald Trump and his supporters after moderating the presidential debate between the former president and Vice President Kamala Harris on Sept. 10.
Some people, including former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., claimed the two moderators were biased toward Harris because they only fact-checked claims that Trump made during the debate.
Amid the backlash, viral posts began circulating on social media that claim ABC News fired Davis and Muir following the debate.
Two posts include a meme with side-by-side photos of Muir and Davis with this text: “ABC Fires Debate Moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis: ‘They Are a Disgrace to Their Profession.’”
Multiple VERIFY readers also asked us if the claims about ABC News firing Muir and Davis are true.
THE QUESTION
Did ABC News fire presidential debate moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis?
THE SOURCES
- ABC News bios for David Muir and Linsey Davis
- ABC World News Tonight broadcast with David Muir and Linsey Davis on Sept. 15, 2024
- ABC World News Tonight broadcast with David Muir on Sept. 16, 2024
- Satirical articles published by spacexmania.com and esspots.com
- SpaceX Fanclub Facebook post from Sept. 11
THE ANSWER
No, ABC News did not fire David Muir and Linsey Davis.
WHAT WE FOUND
ABC did not fire David Muir and Linsey Davis after they moderated the presidential debate on Sept. 10. The false claims stem from satirical articles.
ABC News has not made any personnel announcements about Muir and Davis. Both of them have anchored newscasts since the debate, and can be seen in ABC News videos posted to YouTube on Sept. 15 and Sept. 16.
Bios for Muir and Davis are also still available on the ABC News website as of Tuesday, Sept. 17. Those bios say Muir is the anchor and managing editor of ABC World News Tonight with David Muir and co-anchor of ABC’s 20/20, and Davis is an anchor for "ABC News Live Prime” and weekend "World News Tonight" on Sundays.
The false claims stem from satirical articles published by spacexmania.com and esspots.com on Sept. 12, 2024.
The article published by spacexmania.com has a headline that reads, “Debate Moderators Linsey Davis And David Munir [sic] Reportedly Fired By ABC, ‘They Are A Disgrace To Their Profession.’” But that article is clearly labeled as “satire” in the upper left corner.
One of the viral Facebook posts shared by SpaceX Fanclub includes a link to an article published by esspots.com with the same headline spacexmania.com published and similar false claims. Esspots.com says it is a subsidiary of spacexmania.com “specializing in satire and parody.”
The esspots.com article has a satire label next to the dateline and includes a disclaimer at the bottom that says, “NOTE: This is A Satire Article, It’s Not TRUE.”
The meme in SpaceX Fan Club’s Facebook post is also clearly labeled as satire in the upper left corner and includes text in small print that says, “Nothing on this page is real. If you believe anything we post then you’re a potato crop.”
ABC News declined to comment about false claims that the network fired Muir and Davis.
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